The United States is beginning to experience its highest rate of senior citizens in the coming decades as Baby Boomers march into retirement. With this higher percentage of elderly among the population, the medical community will need to address the rise in the number of cases of dementia. Among the more common forms of dementia is Alzheimer's disease. The disease is degenerative and terminal with no known cure. In the most common form Alzheimer's usually occurs in individuals over 65 years of age, though an early onset form also exists. It is estimated that over 26 million people worldwide were suffering from the disease in 2006. The estimates say that the number will quadruple by 2050, though not all scientists agree on that figure.

Diagnosing Alzheimer's is complex because each individual experiences the symptoms in unique ways. The progress of the disease varies with the patient so it may be years before Alzheimer's is diagnosed. Generally a patient with Alzheimer's will live between 5 and 20 years with the disease. The earliest symptoms are often mistaken as being normal age-related complaints, but as the disease advances, symptoms include confusion, anger, speech problems, memory loss, and general withdrawal of the sufferer. Gradually body functions are lost, ultimately leading to death.

Exercise on a regular basis may help people in the early stages of Alzheimer's. Lead author Jeffrey M. Burns, director of the Alzheimer's and Memory Program at the University of Kansas of Medicine, and colleagues analyzed results of 57 people with early-stage Alzheimer's and 64 people without dementia. All of the subjects were aged 60 or over, and the results of standard fitness tests and MRI brain scans were analyzed. The fitness tests measured peak oxygen demand (VO2 peak) while walking on a treadmill. "At their peak, how much oxygen they're consuming is a measure of how physically fit they are," Burns said. The MRI estimated their brain shrinkage.

The VO2 peak was slightly lower in people with Alzheimer's compared to those with no dementia. Those in the Alzheimer's group who were not physically fit had, on average, four times the amount of brain shrinkage as the control subjects. The results of the study indicate that people in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease may be able to preserve their brain function for a longer period of time by exercising regularly and potentially reducing the amount of brain volume lost according to Burns. "Evidence shows decreasing brain volume is tied to poorer cognitive performance, so preserving more brain volume may translate into better cognitive performance," Burns said.

The researchers say that their study is one of the first to look at how physical fitness is related to Alzheimer's disease. They urge more research in this area because the results were based on taking the standard measure of fitness at just one time, and results cannot be based on a one-time evaluation.

It has been shown in previous studies that exercise improves thinking and memory in people with normal brain activity, increasing blood flow to the brain delivers oxygen and nutrients and elevates growth hormones. The study extends this connection to people with Alzheimer's. If researchers can understand exactly how exercise affects the brain, it could help to provide targets for drugs to treat the disease.

While it is better to have a lifelong physical fitness program it is never to late to start exercising. The more research done in all aspects of physical health the more evidence there is to support the need for physical fitness to have a healthy life.

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